Automatic cattle guard



A. H. HAVIR. AUTOMATIC CATTLE GUARD.

APPLECATTON FILED MAR 17, 1921.

Patented Apr. 11, 1922.

Iv vs/v Tom I ANDREW hf HAY/R ATTORNEYS A.- H'. HAVIRL AUTOMATICCATTLEGUARD. APPLICATION 'FILED MARJT. 192x.

Patented Apr. 11, 1922 3 SHEETS-SHEETZ.

A. H.-HAVIR.

AUTOMATIC CATTLE GUARD.

APPLICATION FILED MAR 17. 1921.

1 ,41 2,240, 1 Patented Apr. 11, 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

A T TOFNE Y6.

' which automatically raises and prevents' an iinals from fwandering onrailroadfcrossiiigs" out upon the tracks at the sides of the crossing.Another objectis to provide a lock or catch which normallyholds-the gatein depressed position and which is released UNETED s'r'rss ANDREW HAVIR.or MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA. r

AUTOMATIC cA'rrnneUAmJ.

p ifi ation of letters Patent. P t d 1 Application filed March 17, 1921.Serial No. 453,091. 7 U 1 .To all whom it may concern: r

Be it knownthat I, ANDREW HAVIR, a citizen of the United 'States,residing at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State ofMinnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inAutomatic Cattle Guards, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to automatic cattle guards. An object is toprovidea device of this character, embodying a gate or barrier protectedby the guard. p 5 p The full objects and advantages of my invention willappear in connection with when an animal starts to crossfthespace I thedetailed description, and the novel features' embodied in my inventiveidea will be particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the drawings which illus- 1 trate the application of myinvention'in one form Fig. 1 is atop plan view ofmy device. 'Fig. "2 isa view in longitudinal vertical section on the line 2 -2 of Fig. 1. Fig.3 is a view 'inlongitudinal vertical section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.Fig. 4 is a view ated., Fig. 7 is a view'in' transverse vertical I aremerely-increased in proportion to the in transverse vertical" section onthe line 4-4e of Fig. 2; F 1g. 5 s a vlew similar to Fig. 3 showing thedevice unlocked. Fig.-

tween the two rails "of-a track and one at each side of'the 'trackwhilein cases wheremore thanflone track occurs the sections number oftracks" so as to be located relatively thereto in a similar manner; Whenthe device or any section thereof is not operated, none of the partsthereof extend upwardly above the rails. Secured on top of the ties arestrips 10termina'ting adjacent the rails and to the ends of these stripsare secured angle members 12 which in turn serve to secure longitudinalbars or supports suitable structure which let which are thus held inpositionparallel to the rails.

1 8, a rear memberQO and a front member 22, the space within thesemembers contain? A gate is provided which'con slsts of a framehaving'side meinbersilG and i ing a wire mesh construction 24- or otherof animals through "the frame.

hen the gate 1s lIllts lowered position as shown in Figs. 2 and4, thefside members l6 and 18; t'hereof'rest upon horizontal flanges of the"prevents passage e e jm b' s 12 andj f. r d the pper; surface of theseflanges maybe provided;

w'ith-rubber orother suitable resilient mate'- rial 25 tolbreak theiforcewith which the 7 gate i is "stoppedfwhen it lowersf The sidemembers 16 and'18 are providedlwith min-p niol s 26'as best shown inFig.1 means of which the gate is pi-votall y attached to'thelongitudinal bars 14.] The side and 18' project forwardly a shortdistance as bestshown in Fig. 1 andpivjoted to these projectingcnds arebars 28 and 30," theforwa'rdfends of which-are provided"with' rollers32and34t which1rest upon one ofthe strips 10 ora suitable support whichYm ay be-provided'i The rear ends'of the bars28 andBO are-connected by anarrow board or strip 36" and hinged to thisboardfb'y"hinges. 38 is aplatform 'tO normally' jheld upwardly by springs 42. Secured to the sidemembers '16 and 18 of the gate adjacent'the trunnions 36am brackets 44to whichgtherear ends 7 of rods 46;arefpivotally' 'attached. "The frontportions of these r'ods extendthrou'gh" ears 48"and-attheir e'1'1ds areprovided with nuts '50 adaptedfor engagement byspringsf52jencircling'the-rods. The platform'O is provided with a slot til-bridged by a strip 56 -which-passes through an inclined slot 58 formedin {the upwardly extending front end of a bar '60. 'This bar'is'slidably' sup} ported on-account of being provided'with longitudinalslots 62 through which extend;

bolts or pins carried angle members 64 mounted on a strip 66 and o'nthestrips 'lOi pivot'ally referred to; The "rearend of the rod 60 isturned upwardly and provided with a forwardly extending lockingiflange.68 which is adapted to'cngage over the rear member 20 of the gate whenthe rod is'in its forward positiona'sshown in Fig. 2. Se-

curedto the rods 46 toward their forward ends but at a short distance inthe rear ofi the ears 48 are angle members havingihorizont'al flanges 70 adaptedto engage over the 75 members "16;

front end ofthe platform when the latter is depressed as shown in Fig. 5and the rods are moved rearwardly as shown in Fig. 6. It will be obviousthat any number of these sections may be employed according to thenumber of tracks located at any particular crossing.

The operation and advantages of my invention will be obvious from theforegoing description. \Vhen a cow or other animal attempts to pass fromthe crossing over the space protected by the guard and steps upon thefront end of the movable platform 40 this end is depressed from theposition shown in Fig. 3 to that shown in Fig. 5. The downward movementof the bridging strip 56 in the inclined space 58 formed in the upturnedfront end of the bar 60 causes this bar to slide rearwardly and removethe flange 68 from engagement with the rear gate member 20 so that thegate is no longer held in its downward position. As the animal stepsfarther upon the platform, the rear portion thereof is depressed in.oppositionto the tension of the springs 42, thereby swinging the frontend'of the gate downwardly upon the trunnions 26 as shown in Fig. 6.This causes the main portion of the gate to swing upwardly, theconstruction preferably being such that the gate swings an angle ofabout 70 and then stops in this position. At the. same time, themovement of the brackets 44: causes the rods 46 to be pulled rearwardand move the flanges 70 over the front end of the platform, whereby thisend of the platform will be held down, even though the weight of theanimal should be disposed entirely upon the rear portion of theplatform. If the front end of the platform were allowed to rise at thistime. the flange 68 would move forwardly into locking position at a timewhen the gate is raised but by means of this construction such result ispositively prevented. The rearward movementof the rods 46 causes thesprings 52 to be compressed. The animal when thus prevented from goingfurther will naturally back off the platform and as it does so, the rearend of the platform will rise and the gate will lower into its depressedposition,

the compression of the springs 52 serving to help initiate thedownwardmovement of the gate. The flanges 7 0 do not pass over from thefront end of the platform. until the gate is completely lowered,whereupon the bar 60 is moved forwardly and the flange 68 againengagesthe gate member 20 to lock the gate in its lowered position.

I claim:

1. An automatic cattle gnardcomprising supports positioned adjacentthe'rails of a railroad, a gate pivoted to said supports on a horizontalpivot and normally in lowered r on al p i ion. m a s fo locking saidgate in lowered position, and means for causing said gate to be unlockedand swung upwardly when an animal starts to cross the space protected bythe guard.

' 2. An automatic cattle guard comprising supports positioned adjacentthe rails of a railroad, a gate pivoted to said supports on a horizontalpivot and normally in lowered horizontal position, a depressibleplatform in advance of said gate, connections between said platform andsaid gate whereby the latter is swung upwardly when an animal steps onsaid platform, means normally locking said gate in lowered position, andmeans for releasing said. locking means when said platform is depressed.v I

3. An automatic cattle guard comprising supports positioned adjacent therails of a railroad, agate pivoted to said supports on ahorizontal'pivot and normally in lowered horizontal. position, adepressible platform in advance of said gate, connections between saidplatform and said gate whereby the latteris swung upwardly when ananimal steps on said platform, a slidable bar, means; which slide saidbar rearwardly when said platform is depressed, and means .on said barnormally holding said gate down and released when said bar is slidrearwardly.

- 4 An. automatic cattle guard comprising supports positioned adjacentthe rails of a railroad, a gate pivoted near is forward end to saidsupports on a horizontal pivot and normally in lowered horizontalposition, a strip pivot-ally attached to the forward end of said gate, aplatform hinged to said strip, springs normally; holding said platformlifted, a. strip, which bridges a slot in the front portion of saidplatform, a slidablefbar having an extension atits forward endcontaining an inclined slot through which said bridging strip extends,and a locking flange on the rear of said bar adapted to engage the rearmember of said gate.

, 5. An automatic cattle guard comprising supports positionedadjacentthe rails ofa railroad, a gatepivoted near its forward end to saidsupports on a horizontal pivot and normally in lowered horizontalposition, a strip pivotally attached to the forward end of said gate, aplatform hinged to said strip, brackets depending from the side membersof said gate adjacent its pivotal attachment,

rodspivoted to said brackets, ears secured to i said supports and,through which said rods extend, springs encircling said rods betweensaid ears and enlargements on the front ends of said rods, flangessecured to saidrods for engaging the front end of said platform when thelatter is depressed and the rodsv movedrearwardly, springs normallyholding said platform lifted. a strip whichv bridges a slot in the frontportion of said; platform, a slidable bar having an extension at; itsforward end containing an inclined slot through which bridging stripextends,

and a locking flange on the rear end of said bar adapted to engage therear member of said gate. I

6. An automatic cattle guard comprising supports positioned adjacent therails of a railroad, a gate pivoted near its forward end to saidsupports on a horizontal pivot and normally in lowered horizontalposition, bars pivoted to the side members of said gate in front of itspivotal attachment to said supports, rollers on the front ends of saidbars, said rollers being supported near the top of the ties, a stripconnecting said bars near their pivoted ends, a platform hinged to saidstrip, brackets depending from the side members of said gate adjacentits pivotal attachment, rods pivoted to said brackets, ears secured tosaid supports and through said rods between said ears and enlarge" mentson the front ends ofsaid rods, means carried by said rods for engagingthe front end of said platform when thelatter is depressed and the rodsmoved rearwardly,

springs normally holding said platform lifted, a strip Which bridges aslot in the front portion of said platform, a slidable bar having anextension at its forward end containing an incline-d slot through whichsaid bridging strip extends, V and locking means on the rear end of saidbar adapted to hold said gate depressed and released when i said barmoves rearwardly.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature.

ANDREW H. HAVIR.

